Showing papers in "Global Policy in 2013"

Existential Risk Prevention as Global Priority

Abstract: risks are those that threaten the entire future of humanity. Many theories of value imply that even relatively small reductions in net existential risk have enormous expected value. Despite their importance, issues surrounding human-extinction risks and related hazards remain poorly understood. In this article, I clarify the concept of existential risk and develop an improved classification scheme. I discuss the relation between existential risks and basic issues in axiology, and show how existential risk reduction (via the maxipok rule) can serve as a strongly action-guiding principle for utilitarian concerns. I also show how the notion of existential risk suggests a new way of thinking about the ideal of sustainability. Policy Implications • Existential risk is a concept that can focus long-term global efforts and sustainability concerns. • The biggest existential risks are anthropogenic and related to potential future technologies. • A moral case can be made that existential risk reduction is strictly more important than any other global public good. • Sustainability should be reconceptualised in dynamic terms, as aiming for a sustainable trajectory rather than a sus- tainable state. • Some small existential risks can be mitigated today directly (e.g. asteroids) or indirectly (by building resilience and reserves to increase survivability in a range of extreme scenarios) but it is more important to build capacity to improve humanity's ability to deal with the larger existential risks that will arise later in this century. This will require collective wisdom, technology foresight, and the ability when necessary to mobilise a strong global coordi- nated response to anticipated existential risks. • Perhaps the most cost-effective way to reduce existential risks today is to fund analysis of a wide range of existen- tial risks and potential mitigation strategies, with a long-term perspective.

Global Income Inequality in Numbers: in History and Now

Abstract: article presents an overview of calculations of global inequality, recently and over the long term, and outlines the main controversies and political and philosophical implications of the findings. It focuses in particular on the winners and losers of the most recent episode of globalization, from 1988 to 2008. It suggests that the period has witnessed the first decline in inequality between world citizens since the Industrial Revolution. However, the decline can be sus- tained only if countries' mean incomes continue to converge (as they have been doing during the past ten years) and if internal (within-country) inequalities, which are already high, are kept in check. Mean-income convergence would also reduce the huge 'citizenship premium' that is enjoyed today by the citizens of rich countries.

Soil Security: Solving the Global Soil Crisis

Abstract: Soil degradation is a critical and growing global problem. As the world population increases, pressure on soil also increases and the natural capital of soil faces continuing decline. International policy makers have recognized this and a range of initiatives to address it have emerged over recent years. However, a gap remains between what the science tells us about soil and its role in underpinning ecological and human sustainable development, and existing policy instruments for sustainable development. Functioning soil is necessary for ecosystem service delivery, climate change abatement, food and fiber production and fresh water storage. Yet key policy instruments and initiatives for sustainable development have under-recognized the role of soil in addressing major challenges including food and water security, biodiversity loss, climate change and energy sustainability. Soil science has not been sufficiently translated to policy for sustainable development. Two underlying reasons for this are explored and the new concept of soil security is proposed to bridge the science-policy divide. Soil security is explored as a conceptual framework that could be used as the basis for a soil policy framework with soil carbon as an exemplar indicator.

Trojan Multilateralism: Global Cooperation in Health

Abstract: article argues that recent global health cooperation has been marked by two trends. First, there has been a highly successful proliferation of vertical funds to fight specific diseases. These are characterized by narrower problem-based mandates; multistakeholder governance; voluntary and discretionary funding; no in-country presence for the delivery of assistance; and an output-based legitimacy (based on effectiveness, not process). The rise of new initiatives with these characteristics has dovetailed with an increase in the funding of international organizations. However, the latter has not necessarily strengthened multilateralism. Instead, rapid increases in discretionary earmarked funding to the WHO and World Bank, which we call Trojan multilateralism, has replicated features of the vertical funds. With what conse- quences for international cooperation? Using principal-agent theory, we find a mixed picture. International organiza- tions are being redirected by specific incentives. However, two constraints on bilateral control are not shifting. There is a persistent asymmetry of information between the WHO or the World Bank and individual member states, which gives the former a degree of autonomy. Equally, there are persistent obstacles to tightening bilateral monitoring of multilat- eral action. We conclude that the positive lessons to be drawn from vertical initiatives need to be balanced by the risks posed from a convergence of vertical initiatives and Trojan multilateralism

Forum Shopping in Global Governance: Understanding States, Business and NGOs in Multiple Arenas

Abstract: The political strategy of forum shopping is an under-researched but highly relevant concept for understanding the dynamics of global governance. Forum shopping involves actors seeking to realise their policy objectives within preferred policy arenas on the basis of an arena's particular governing characteristics. We examine the forum shopping behaviour of the key states, business and non-governmental groups in regard to three policy issues: labour standards, intellectual property rights, and chemicals regulation. Our preliminary analysis is centred around the questions of why actors forum shop, the circumstances in which forum shopping enables actors to succeed in promoting their interests, and the impact of forum shopping on the effectiveness of global governance. Our cases suggest an arena's membership, issue mandate, decision making procedures and enforcement capacity are the key characteristics that shape actors' arena preferences. Another important implication is that a multi-arena global governance system comprised of duplication and overlap in issue mandate (rather than large multilateral single issue arenas) may be beneficial for advancing actors' policy agendas. The overarching goal of the article is to spark more systematic research into the often practiced but under-theorised phenomenon of forum shopping.

Fighting the Resource Curse

Abstract: The resource curse can strike countries that export high-value natural resources, such as oil, metals and gems. Resource-exporting countries are more prone to authoritarian governance, they are at higher risk of civil wars and they tend to suffer economic dysfunctions such as corruption and slower growth.1 Associations between resources and these pathologies are seen in the list of the ‘Big Five’ African oil exporters: Algeria, Angola, Libya, Nigeria and Sudan. The recent histories of mineral exporters support the correlations: for example, ‘blood diamonds’ fuelled Sierra Leone's decade-long civil war, and the continuing conflict in the metal-rich Democratic Republic of the Congo has cost hundreds of thousands of lives. The phenomenon is not solely African: Syria, Yemen and Turkmenistan, for example, are also resource-cursed. Moreover, poor governance in resource-cursed countries can engender follow-on pathologies, such as a propensity to cause environmental damage both domestically (for example, through the destruction of forests) and globally (through increased greenhouse gas emissions). Most research on the resource curse has focused on the exporting countries. Here I focus instead on major importing countries, especially those in the G8. First I survey how the resource curse endangers the core interests of importing states, and how the laws of importing states drive the resource curse. The second half of the article describes a new policy framework for importing states that will improve international trade in resources for both importing and exporting countries.

The Paradox of Climate Engineering

Abstract: Climate engineering technologies, sometimes also referred to as geoengineering technologies, attempt to ward off the worst effects of climate change by intervening in the global climate system. We see the potentials offered by climate engineering technologies in counteracting the threats of climate change but also take into account the risks that arise from the side effects of these technologies on natural, social and political systems. We find a paradox of climate engineering, which consists in the circumstance that exactly those technologies that are capable of acting fast and effectively against rising temperatures at comparatively low costs, are also the technologies that are likely to create the greatest amount of social and political conflict. To address this apparent paradox, we argue that an institutional setting for researching and potentially deploying climate engineering technologies is needed which creates a sufficiently high degree of social and political legitimacy and addresses a set of specified problems connected to climate engineering. We present a proposal for such an institutional setting that explicitly addresses these concerns. Policy Implications • Research on and potential uses of climate engineering technologies need to be coordinated internationally in a multilateral institutional setting. • An international climate engineering agency should be created that coordinates and disseminates research on climate engineering. • Research results should be evaluated by the IPCC. • Decision-making on climate engineering should occur within the UNFCCC, where the states party to that convention should decide on norms and rules that govern climate engineering (regarding, for example, an upper limit for manipulations of the radiation balance, a uniform metric for making different responses to climate change comparable, and a time limited moratorium on field tests and deployments of climate engineering technologies).

The G20 and Food Security: a Mismatch in Global Governance?

Abstract: the G20 took up food security in 2010, many were optimistic that it could bring about positive change by addressing structural problems in commodity markets that were contributing to high and volatile food prices and exac- erbating hunger. Its members could tighten the regulation of agricultural commodity futures markets, support multilat- eral trade rules that would better reflect both importer and exporter needs, end renewable fuel targets that diverted land to biofuels production, and coordinate food reserves. In this article, we argue that although the G20 took on food security as a focus area, it missed an important opportunity and has shown that it is not the most appropriate forum for food security policy. Instead of tackling the structural economic dimensions of food security, the G20 chose to pro- mote smoothing and coping measures within the current global economic framework. By shifting the focus away from structural issues, the G20 has had a chilling effect on policy debates in other global food security forums, especially the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS). In addition, the G20 excludes the voices of the least developed coun- tries and civil society, and lacks the expertise and capacity to implement its recommendations.

Overcoming the Epistemic Injustice of Colonialism

Abstract: In this article I consider the epistemic injustice of colonialism. I define epistemic injustice as a form of cultural injustice that occurs when the concepts and categories by which a people understand themselves and their world is replaced or adversely affected by the concepts and categories of the colonizers. A deep problem today for the sufferers of epistemic injustice is that western categories both have an undeniable universal potential and they are fully intermingled with the specificity of western practices; worse, they bear a deep imprint of western domination and hegemony. I thus argue that we can neither ignore western ideas nor fully show how they can be rescued from the pernicious effects of their own imperial imprint.

BRICS and the Privileging of Informality in Global Governance

Abstract: The staging of the Fifth BRICS summit on 26–27 March 2013 consolidated the impression of nuanced club dynamics. Despite considerable differences in strategic perspectives, the BRICS members have been successful in amplifying converging interests while avoiding friction from disagreement by downplaying issues on which there is geopolitical divergence and policy competition. Their ‘agency’ of cooperation within BRICS is founded on an informal and loose operational style, which has facilitated organizational maintenance. The approach of accenting institutional flexibility is demonstrated by content analysis of BRICS declarations, interviews and media releases, which reveal how the membership of this forum have given greater attention to areas in which they share common interests, and made progress working towards them, while refraining from addressing issues in which there are serious underlying tensions.

Gridlock: From Self‐reinforcing Interdependence to Second‐order Cooperation Problems

Abstract: Growing interdependence requires greater global cooperation, but across a range of issues multilateral policy making seems to have stalled. We argue that this growing gap between the need for global governance and the ability of intergovernmental institutions to provide it must be understood as a general and conjunctural state of the multilateral order, which we term gridlock. The causes of gridlock are diverse – rising multipolarity, institutional inertia, harder problems, increased complexity – but can be found across a range of global issue areas. Importantly, these drivers are, in part, products of previous, successful cooperation over the postwar period, and can therefore be understood as ‘second-order’ cooperation problems. We argue that a process of self-reinforcing interdependence has altered the nature of global politics over the past decades, and has therefore in part undermined the ability of multilateral institutions to sustain the very interdependence they have helped to create. This article lays out this argument with regard to three core areas of world politics: security, trade and finance.

Social Investment According to the OECD/DELSA: A Discourse in the Making

Abstract: It is important to draw critical attention to the broad policy perspectives that travel across the globe and operate at multiple scales Social Investment is clearly one such set of ideas that has assumed increasing prominence over the last two decades Like most such rapidly diffusing ideas, however, it admits of quite different interpretations In this article I examine the most recent iterations of the Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs’ (DELSA) interpretation of Social Investment against the backdrop of its earlier work I argue that its initial formulations could be seen as an example of inclusive liberalism Since then, however, DELSA has begun to embrace important elements of a social democratic version, including a concern with gender equality Policy Implications • While the idea of Social Investment may have opened anew a positive role for social policy, it is insufficient for such policies to focus narrowly on improving the human capital of the poor Rather it is important to develop the human capital of all • While Social Investment policies can include measures to facilitate work and family life it is also important to actively promote equality of the sexes in paid and unpaid work • Social Investment policies, with their emphasis on the supply side, need to be complemented by policies to promote good jobs for all • To be effective, Social Investment policies need to be accompanied by appropriate macroeconomic policies

Debating the International Legitimacy of the G20: Global Policymaking and Contemporary International Society

Abstract: There have been growing debates about the legitimacy and the future of the G20 (the Group of Twenty) leaders forum despite this forum playing a prominent role in response to the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. While states within the G20 assert the legitimacy of the G20, states outside the G20 actively question this forum’s legitimacy. This article contends that while the G20 is important to contemporary global governance and efforts to create a common framework of rules for global capitalism, this ongoing debate demonstrates that the legitimacy of the G20 is fundamentally uncertain and problematic because the G20’s membership and connection to existing forms of multilateralism remain contentious. This article contends that G20 leaders need to consider these issues in light of the prevailing expectations of states in contemporary international society. Policy Implications • Given the scale and complexity of global problems and the large number of states and International Organisations (IOs), the G20 is going to be an important forum for timely global agenda setting and decision making at an executive level. • However, the G20 faces a range of challenges in attempting to develop and sustain its legitimacy. Importantly, legitimacy is not an abstract concept, as it derives from the prevailing norms and institutions in international society. • Since the emergence of the G20 there have been ongoing debates about the legitimacy of the G20 in international society, where it is clear that considering the views of nonmember states and the relationship of the G20 to existing forms of multilateralism are important. • Consequently, consideration ought to be given to measures to strengthen the legitimacy of the G20, including stronger connections between the G20 and core multilateral bodies like the UN, as well as developing avenues of interaction between the G20 and the public in its member states, as well as transnational NGOs and business interests.

A Proposal for Truly Global Poverty Measures

Abstract: Standard absolute poverty measures probably understate poverty rates in rich countries, given that their residents face higher welfare costs of social inclusion and relative deprivation. At the same time, standard measures of relative poverty probably understate the extent of poverty in poor countries, given that these measures attach little value to social inclusion needs at low mean income. This article provides the first estimates of a new class of truly global measures that aim to avoid these deficiencies of past measures. The results indicate that worsening distribution in the set of high-income countries has pushed up the incidence of relative poverty since 1990, but not by as much as success against absolute poverty has swelled the ranks of the relatively poor in the developing world. The incidence of purely relative poverty is now higher in the developing world than among rich countries – reversing the historical pattern.

Expanding Global Justice: The Case for the International Protection of Animals

Abstract: This article examines and rejects the view that nonhuman animals cannot be recipients of justice, and argues that the main reasons in favor of universal human rights and global justice also apply in the case of the international protection of the interests of nonhuman animals. In any plausible theory of wellbeing, sentience matters; mere species membership or the place where an animal is born does not. This does not merely entail that regulations of the use of animals aimed at reducing their suffering should be implemented. It actually supports the end of such use, as well as other positive steps to provide help and to promote what is good not only for domesticated animals, but also for those living in the wild. Another reason to bring the protection of animals' interests into the international arena is that it is at this level that numerous animal exploitation industries enjoy the protection of different agreements and institutions. It does not follow from this that changing international law should be animal advocates' first priority, but it does follow that they should conduct their work internationally and not limit it to their own countries. © 2013 University of Durham and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Rebuilding communities after disasters: Lessons from the tsunami disaster in Sri Lanka

Abstract: Disaster management literature is inundated with rhetoric about 'community participation' or 'community-led recovery', yet the studies on how to achieve this have been unconvincing, displaying a shallow understanding of what 'community' means. Development scholars often argue that better preparation for 'extreme events' can prevent them from becoming 'disasters', but a string of recent disasters - from Haiti to Japan - reminds us that the world community will continue to be called on to help rebuild shattered communities. This article reflects the findings of a major study of social recovery from the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka that set out to identify and analyse examples of good practice with regard to community-led recovery. It aims to elaborate what a community development approach to disaster recovery might look like as part of a more 'deliberative' and patient approach to long-term social recovery.

Global Health and the New Bottom Billion: What do Shifts in Global Poverty and Disease Burden Mean for Donor Agencies?

Abstract: After a decade of rapid growth in average incomes, many countries have attained middle income country (MIC) status. At the same time, poverty has not fallen as much as one might expect and as a result most of the world’s poor now live in MICs. In fact, there are up to a billion poor people or a ‘new bottom billion’ living not in the world’s poorest countries but in MICs. Not only has the global distribution of poverty shifted to MICs, so has the global disease burden. This article examines the implications of this ‘new bottom billion’– the fact that up to a billion of the world’s poorest people now live in MICs – for global health efforts, and recommends a tailored middle income strategy for the Global Fund and GAVI. The article describes trends in the global distribution of poverty, preventable infectious diseases, and health aid response to date; revisits the rationale for health aid through agencies like GAVI and the Global Fund; and proposes a new MICs strategy and components, concluding with recommendations. Policy Implications • Eliminating the country income threshold as an across-the-board criterion for allocating global health funding. • Setting up regional pooled procurement or pricing mechanisms. • Building evidence based, priority setting institutions in MICs. • Establishing increased accountability mechanisms and providing technical support for MICs. • Increasing the allocative efficiency of health aid while ensuring equity.

Into the Void: International Law and the Protection of Animal Welfare

Abstract: Animal welfare is not currently regulated by a single, comprehensive international law instrument. This article considers prevailing frameworks in international law that address animal welfare in some way, but by themselves do not meet the hallmarks of an effective global protection regime, including comprehensiveness and enforceability. Emerging frameworks that might fill the gap in global animal welfare protection include a universal declaration on animal welfare, the entrenchment of World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) animal health standards and an international convention for the protection of animal welfare. While the prospects of any of these models succeeding in the short term are uncertain at best, the challenge now is to think carefully about what legal form an international framework for animal protection might take.

Macroeconomic Stabilisation in the Eurozone: Lessons from Failure

Abstract: Three forms of macroeconomic stabilisation in the eurozone are considered: national macroeconomic stabilisation, debt discipline and eurozone-wide macroeconomic stabilisation. The eurozone started with an architecture that ignored the first, which it hoped – despite advice to the contrary – would look after itself. This article explores what subsequently happened before the financial crisis, during the Great Recession and after 2010. It argues that the failure to address the issue of national macroeconomic stabilisation was a crucial factor behind what became an existential crisis for the eurozone. However, the crisis has a silver lining. The rationale behind union-wide controls to limit fiscal deficits (the SGP and now the Fiscal Compact) no longer exists. Since 2010 it has become clear that eurozone members face greater market discipline on fiscal deficits than do countries with their own currency. As a result, fiscal controls and institutions to support them can and should reside at the national level, and can therefore focus on national stabilisation as well as the more long-term control of government debt. It is argued that this alternative to the current architecture is both more feasible and more desirable than a move towards fiscal union.

Climate Disruption: Are We Beyond the Worst Case Scenario?

Abstract: The inability of world governments to agree on and implement effective mitigation response policy for anthropogenic climate change has resulted in the continuation of an exponential growth in greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) that averages 3.1 per cent per year since 1870. With the exception of 2009, world GHG emission levels surpassed the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2000) worst case scenario every year since 2004. Because of increasing temperatures due to GHG emissions a suite of amplifying feedback mechanisms, such as massive methane leaks from the sub-sea Arctic Ocean, have engaged and are probably unstoppable. These processes, acting in concert with the biological and physical inertia of the Earth system in responding to atmospheric loading of GHGs, along with economic, political and social barriers to emission reduction, currently place Earth’s climate trajectory well within the IPCC’s A1FI future climate change scenario. There is a rapidly diminishing chance of altering this trajectory as time goes on. There is also now a very real risk of sudden climate change. The pace of this quickly advancing situation, along with our scientific understanding of it, has substantially outstripped policy discussion. This article examines current primary science literature and data on today’s climate condition in a policy relevant context. Policy Implications • An all out shift to a broad range of adaptive response policies is urgently needed. Climate change will force reevaluations of present day governance agreements on trade, finance, food supply, security, development, environment, and similar sectors. • Easy to understand scientific data driven visualizations and culturally appropriate interpretations of probable future conditions are needed to facilitate realistic adaptive policy responses from all levels of governance. • Multilateral policies for an international crop seed cooperative could significantly lessen the impacts of crop failures and low yields, reducing the risk of famine and economic effects of unstable food prices. There is a need to store a large enough volume of crop seed varieties to allow for quick switching of varieties one year to the next based on dynamic forecasts of seasonal climates. • Harmonization of international, national, subnational, and local policies for the orderly resettlement of coastal populations should begin now. This will become a chronic condition involving very large numbers of people. Improved and coordinated policies are needed for refugee services and related issues of migration and integration as well as planning for land use change and infrastructure development.

The Political Economy of Global Business: the Case of the BRICs

Abstract: Gaining greater knowledge of the characteristics of large firms that dominate the global economy is an inherently important endeavour. Brazil, Russia, India and China (the BRIC economies) have gained influence in the global economy and this is reflected in the increasing weight of their companies in Fortune Global 500 rankings. Uneven access to data and information makes understanding the strategy, structure, ownership and performance of large business an ambitious programme of research. The BRIC economies are different from each other and this is also true as far as the heights of their respective business worlds are considered. But they also share some crucial features: concentrated ownership, with governments and families at the helm, diversification and internationalisation.

Macroeconomic Implications of the German Short-time Work Policy during the Great Recession

Abstract: Despite a sharp fall in GDP, German employment in terms of employees stayed remarkably robust during the Great Recession. At the same time, hours worked per employee declined significantly. This is seen as the core of the German employment ‘miracle’. A general discussion arose about the reasons behind this astonishing labour market performance and the role of short-time work (STW) as a kind of exportable panacea. In this article we look at the macroeconomic implications of STW and other measures of internal flexibility, in particular focusing on the quantification of safeguarded jobs during the crisis. We find that STW played an important role and helped to safeguard employment in Germany during the Great Recession. However, we show that other measures of internal flexibility (working time accounts, contractual arrangements on working time reductions, reduction of overtime) were equally important. Together with STW these instruments saved around 1 million jobs. To explain and understand the German success story, the features of the German core model – with a strong employer–employee relationship of mutual trust, strong employment protection, traditional standard working contracts and strong works councils at the firm level – are of key importance.

Identity and War

Abstract: This article makes two arguments. First, sectarian identity (ethnic, tribal or religious) is an outcome of war rather than a cause of war, even though such identities make (selective) use of memory. The implication of this proposition is that war should be interpreted less as an external contest of will between two sides but rather as a one-sided and/or parallel effort to construct unidimensional political identities as a basis for power. Power derived from identity so constructed is likely to be authoritarian and repressive. Second, different methods of communication provide the basis for different modalities of power and this matters; power diffuses through all forms of communication. But the language of violence is much less amenable to freedom and human emancipation than other nonviolent forms of communication. The arguments are elaborated through a critique of the work of the German legal theorist Carl Schmitt and his notion of the friend–enemy distinction as a basis of political authority. The article concludes by arguing that in a global era, when traditional inter-state war is declining, there are greater possibilities for multiple identities and a layering of political authority, even though there are also efforts to resurrect the friend–enemy distinction in many ‘new wars’ and, above all, in the war on terror.

Fault Lines and Issue Linkages at the G20: New Challenges for Global Economic Governance

Abstract: The G20 emerged at the center stage of global economic governance in 2008. At the time, it was designed to be an inclusive and effective intergovernmental body. However, we find evidence of a slowdown of the G20's development by tracing the evolution of the G20 agenda during the seven summits held to date. We argue that the principle reason for the lack of progress is that the expansion of the issues covered by this international organization created new dividing lines among G20 members and also made preexisting ones more salient. Rather than reaching increasingly shallow consensus on a wider a range of issues, state leaders should sharpen the G20 agenda, avoid politicization, and frame issues in ways that prevent the formation of opposition along national lines.

The Moral Economy of Somali Piracy – Organised Criminal Business or Subsistence Activity?

Abstract: Somali piracy is increasingly explained in terms of organised criminal business. This article argues that piracy does not constitute a business and the analogy with organised crime is misleading and can obstruct the search for a long term settlement. Dismissing the underlying grievance, the destruction of Somali fisheries by foreign trawlers, with literalist explanations such as ‘pirates are rarely fishermen’ and ‘most targets are cargo ships’, ignores its function as a ‘legitimating notion’. The concept of ‘moral economy’ is used to explain how along the coast but also within the diaspora the identity of Somalis as victims is used to legitimize pirate activities. International responses should therefore focus actively and symbolically on reconstructing livelihoods along the coast, instead of seeking security sector and criminal justice solution. This is possible and cost effective because Somali piracy is a subsistence activity driven by lack of employment and investment opportunities, and provides a limited economic stimulus for coastal micro economies.

On the Measurement of Social Progress and Wellbeing: Some Further Thoughts

Abstract: There is not a single year where our measurement systems are not called into question, and as a consequence it will take more time than we would like to understand what is going on in the world economy.

The Future We Get Might Not Be the Future We Want: Analyzing the Rio+20 Outcomes

Abstract: The Rio+20 Summit resulted in a policy outcome that, according to most observers, did not meet the requirements for a deep transformation of the current unsustainable practices that contribute to global environmental change. In light of this assessment, scholars and practitioners have questioned the effectiveness of intergovernmental conferences to solve environmental problems and suggested alternatives, including voluntary commitments, public-private partnerships and bottom-up approaches. This survey article analyzes the Rio+20 outcomes and argues that, while the overtly high expectations of the public, media, NGOs and scientists have not been met, the concrete results might include the seeds for a substantive transformation of current unsustainable practices. In this context, this article also urges leaders not to abandon international agreements for governing global change prematurely. While the overtly high expectations of the public, media, NGOs and scientists have not been met by the Rio+20 outcomes, the concrete results might include the seeds for a substantive transformation of current unsustainable practices. © 2013 University of Durham and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Orchestrating the Response: Somali Piracy and Ontological Complexity

Abstract: Contemporary piracy is a complex and intricate problem. This article discusses different sources of complexity of the problem and suggests paying attention to ontological complexity. To unravel ontological complexity one has to ask the very fundamental question: Why is piracy actually considered to be problematic? Addressing this question leads to a set of different paradigms of piracy which underpin counter-piracy policy. Each of these paradigms works with different presumptions, foregrounds different dimensions and suggests other types of measures. Five paradigms of counter-piracy are outlined: Firstly, a security paradigm, which stresses that piracy is a threat; secondly, a legal paradigm, within which piracy is a crime; thirdly, an economic paradigm within which piracy is a business model; fourthly, a development paradigm that interprets piracy as a problem of structural root causes; and fifthly a humanitarian paradigm in which piracy is the source of suffering for individuals. These paradigms produce a range of tensions between each other. The article concludes in stressing the importance of paying attention to this complexity to increase reflexivity in drafting counter-piracy policies.